N15 Billion Almajiri Schools Abandoned In Ruins

The state of the Almajiri integrated model Schools
built during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan has
deteriorated, Daily Trust investigations have revealed.

The schools were built in order to tackle the high rate of illiteracy rate in the northern region.

The aim is to build an integrated model schools in a bid to modernize almajiri education system in the north.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan launched the programme on April 10, 2012 at Gagi in Sokoto State,
where he registered 25 pupils in the new model boarding school, equipped with modern facilities.
It
was the first of 400 such schools to be built in the northern states
for which the government had planned to spend about N15 billion.

Jonathan
said the first model school would have facilities such as language
laboratory, recitation hall, classrooms, dormitories, clinic, vocational
workshop, dining hall and quarters for teachers.
However, five
years after, our findings reveal that some of the schools have been
converted to conventional schools while others are replete with decaying
facilities.

[i]Zamfara

In Zamfara State, the Almajiri schools have been converted into conventional Secondary Schools, Daily Trust findings reveal.
Investigation
reveals the school in Talata Mafara local government was converted into
Command Science Secondary School while the one in Damba was converted
into Government Girls Secondary School.
Our correspondent who visited
the school in Damba saw dozens of schoolgirls in uniform taking lessons
but neither the school officials nor students agreed to speak.

Contacted, the state commissioner for education Alhaji Muktar Lugga said:
“When
we came on board we took over the Almajiri schools and converted them
into conventional schools and even when we did that we encapsulated the
objectives for which the schools were established because nothing has
been done outside the original plans,” he said.

He said they
took the decision because the structures put in place were rotting away
and deteriorating, and could not be allowed to waste.

Asked
about the fate of the teeming Almajiris in the state, the commissioner
responded: “Why are you taking us back? Who is Almajiri if I may ask? I
think Almajiri means student. Let me tell you in our educational system
we have curriculum designed to take care of Almajiri at basic education
level.

“In our state we have integrated Almajiri school
system, our curriculum is reflecting that. It was a decision we had to
take to meet the objectives of establishing those places and we are
still giving them education at basic level.”

An official at
the state Universal Basic Education Board who craved for anonymity said
Amajiri schools in the state were not put to use since they were built
adding that he could not tell why. “I have learnt recently that the
structures were taken over by the state government and converted into
conventional schools for boys and girls,” he said.

Sokoto

The
first Tsangaya School commissioned five years ago in Sokoto state by
the former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan are not put to proper use
as seven of the ten classes in the school are unoccupied.

When
contacted the Principal of the school, Malam Hussaini declined comment
on the condition of the school, saying they were barred from talking to
the media without a written permission from the Sokoto State Universal
Basic Education Board.

Students of other schools revealed to
our reporter that they had not been undertaking vocational courses
despite having a well-equipped vocational centre in the school.

“They
teach us English, mathematics, computer studies, Quranic lessons among
others but we are not given vocational courses,” two of the students
told Daily Trust.

The school had 260 pupils in 2015, mostly from Sokoto and the neighboring states of Kebbi and Zamfara.
But during our last visit only few students were sighted around the school.

The Secretary of SUBEB, Faruk Shehu could not be reached for comment at the time of filing this report.

Kaduna

Almajiri
schools in Kaduna are characterized by lack of facilities just as bed
bugs have taken over majority of the schools in the state. The operators
of these schools have also decried neglect by the present
administration; saying they got better attention under the former
President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

Our reporter
who visited three of the schools at Kawo and Ungwar Rimi observed that
all the schools experience shortage of teachers and classrooms and also
lack facilities such as laboratory, clinic, dining hall, dormitory, and
writing materials. The schools are also lagging behind as far as hygiene
and sanitation is concerned.

Bauchi

Four
Tsangaya Model Schools were established in Bauchi State in 2012. They
were located at Buzaye and Kangere in Bauchi local government; Sade in
Darazo local government and Azare in Katagum local government.

Buzaye
Tsangaya School is located about 15 kilometres outside Bauchi town
along Jos-Bauchi highway at a village called Buzaye. It is situated
about 400 metres from the highway.

The school which presently
accommodates 400 students brought from different parts of the state is
fenced and its frontage attracts instant attention.
The school has
three dormitories, three blocks of four classes and another three blocks
of two classes, a language laboratory, Mosque, and a non-equipped,
non-functional clinic. It also has two recitation halls which are being
used by the students.

One of the dormitories was partially
burnt in a fire incident on 25th October, 2015 and was not repaired
since then despite letters and reminders sent to the Local Education
Authority (LEA) and the State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB), a
source in the school confirmed.

“The incident compounded the
problem we are facing in the school. We also don’t have enough beds,
mattresses and beddings because they have not been added to the ones
supplied since the establishment of the school, “the source added.

Also,
the Language Laboratory is not functional because the equipment needed
have not been supplied and installed likewise the Vocational Centre that
is supposed to provide skills for the pupils.

The Clinic is
also not equipped, not even and was turned into a toilet by the
students who defecate on the floors because of its proximity to the
dormitories.
Some of the schools have broken ceilings, partially
blown up roofs, broken doors and windows, lack of seats for students and
other challenges.

Kebbi

Many pupils in the Almajiri schools in Kebbi State roam the streets to seek for alms and food as a means of survival.

Most
of them are from villages in Kebbi while others are from the
neighbouring countries of Niger and Benin Republics. However, because of
the poor state of the schools rather than attending their classes the
children are sometimes seen engaging in casual labour such as helping
bricklayers or working in the farms for their survival.

When
our Correspondent visited one of the special schools for the Almajiri
in Tudun Wada area of Birnin Kebbi, many of the pupils were said to have
gone out to beg for alms and their breakfast. Only 9 out of the 104
pupils in the school were in their hostels and within the premises. The
few that were available were looking tattered for lack of care. There
were others waiting for alms by the school gates.

One of the
pupils told our correspondent that he came from a village in Jega area
of the state to study at the school adding that he and his peers go
with bows seeking for food and alms because they are responsible for
their feeding and upkeep even as pupils of the school.

An
Islamic scholar, Malam Saliu Magaji told our correspondent that though
Islam spread to other parts of the country through the northern region,
the old practice of sending the male children to Arabic schools without
adequately catering for their needs had been a serious issue but has
nothing to do with Islam. “We have Arabic schools and institutions in
other parts of Nigeria yet they didn’t turn their male pupils to
beggars,” he said.

At Tudun Wada area of Birnin Kebbi, the
principal of the school, Malam Aliyu Abubakar said: “I was posted here
two months ago. I will tell you that the situation of things is bad
here. Even though the school was established by the federal government
to address the education of the almajiri we have series of problems
here. We have only four teachers attending to 104 pupils in the school,
we have two classrooms but only one is functional and the 104 pupils are
being taught in one classroom. We cannot afford feeding the pupils,
they feed themselves.”

The Secretary to the State
government, Alhaji Babale Umar Yauri during a press briefing said the
state government had partnered with UNICEF to collate number of these
almajiri and ensure that they were enrolled in schools.

Kano

The
Warawa Tsangaya model primary school in Kano is different. If not for
the fact that the signboard at the entrance indicated that it is an
Islamic school one would have thought that it is the same private
conventional primary school.

Investigations revealed that
though no school fees is being charged; pupils in the school sleep on
mattresses and mats bought by their parents.

Even though
there is dispensary to take care of ailing pupils, the school maintained
a first aid facility through resources from the PTA fund. The school is
not connected to power supply. Though there are staff quarters, only
the headmaster and some few staff stay in them. It was also revealed
that the library, computer laboratory and skill training workshop were
all locked up due to unavailability of working materials to support the
operations. It was also gathered that the same situation is obtainable
in Kibiya and Tsakuwa Islamiyyamodel primary schools in the state.